Starbucks Review from a Non-Coffee Lover

Yesterday was my first visit to Starbucks. My sis-in-law and bro-in-law (My bro-in-law makes a mean cup 'o joe) gave me a gift card for my birthday. I was so excited to try out Starbucks and feel like a "cool person" who goes to Starbucks. I had no idea what to choose, so I asked the Starbucks employee what was popular. He said the Pumpkin Spice Latte was very popular and he liked it a lot. Well, I never knew that pumpkin went with coffee, but I thought I'd give it a bash because he said that it was good. I ordered the 12 ounce size with decaf, nonfat milk and whipped cream. The price tag for this "classy beverage" was well nigh $4. the calories from my little drink...260 (and that's with nonfat milk)...that's more calories than my Cheerios breakfast. I really enjoyed the experience...it was fun, but do people go here all the time? Isn't it just a bit pricey? And....hello, one drink is like a meal! My belly was full after I drank it...but it was very good.

I think that drinking coffee is about an experience; it's like belonging to a sort of "brotherhood" of "coffee people". I don't think I belong to this group. It's expensive, high calorie, and it has caffeine. Now, I don't want to stir up trouble with all of my coffee loving friends, but is it really right to be addicted to caffeine? We learned in health class that caffeine is a stimulant. I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but what's the big draw with coffee? It's a nice treat once in a while, but why do people love it so much?

5 Year Old Theology and a little more...

Today we were reading our Bible Story book and at the end of the story is questions. I asked Sophia and Elijah, "What does God own?"

Sophia: Our toys, our house, our fridge, etc.
Mommy: Did you know that God owns you?
Sophia: Yes, and he owns Elijah, Mommy, Daddy, etc....and there are fat people too, but that's okay.
(Mommy tries to stay straight faced)
And Elijah, his head is not like a rolled up ball, but that's okay too. :)
(Mommy laughs)

I think what she was trying to say was that Elijah's head is not sphereical, and no, we don't go around calling people "fat", she just came up with that one on her own. :)

Ooops...

...here is the link for the castle bundt pan. I forgot to put it on my original post. :)

Baking Weather

I got two new bundt pans for my birthday. This one is my favorite. The kids get a charge out of it too...thank Mom & Dad! :) I also got some muffin tins and a cake tester. It is August so I didn't think I would get to use them for a while because of the heat, but alas, cool weather is here and cool weather is baking weather!

I started my bake-athon on Saturday with this. I used the castle pan and it turned out so nicely. The pan was great and I didn't have to scrub at it...it was that non-stick. After the Zucchini bread cooled, Sophia and I baked Blueberry Muffins. She enjoyed sprinkling coarse sugar on the tops of them before we put them in the oven. I think she liked eating the sugar even more. ;)

Then yesterday, I decided to make a mongo batch of this. It has a lot of bananas in it (for health, right? :)) so it is a very dense bread. My new cake tester came out clean, but my loafies weren't quite set in the middle, so I decided to slice the bread and lay the slices on cookie sheets and bake them until each piece was set. It worked pretty well.

Mmmm, I love the smell of something sweet in the oven! :)

Electronic Age Dreaming

I heard Sophia calling (aka screaming over the hum of the air conditioners) after her nap today, and went upstairs to see what was going on. After chatting with her for a couple of minutes I asked her if she slept today. She replied, "I started to, but when I fell asleep my dreams turned on, so I woke up". I guess these days there's no such thing as drifting off into dream land....it's all about electronics and flipping switches and turning things off an on...even to my 5 year old. :)

I'm a Homeschooling Mama

Well, we started homeschooling, but in an underachiever, laid back kind of a way. We "do school" on our bed in the bedroom, it's just so much more comfy! :) Sophia loves it and she has read a few words like "mat". So far it's been a lot of fun.

I decided to start early because I was ready and she was very eager! I tried to take Friday off from school and she still wanted to do school. In fact, she did worksheets with Graeme today. I think she likes all the pretty colored pictures on the worksheets. It's also nice to go up to the air conditioned bedroom and spend some quality time together.

So, I hope the fun continues till the end of the year!

We've taken the plunge!! Yippee!!!!

The Car and the Scars

Well, it looks like my baby will be abiding with us a bit longer. Natasha (my first car) was able to be fixed after all. She's still limping along as she needs new tires and some new noise has cropped up, but she's gonna make it (for now :)). When I bought her 8 years ago, my Mom said, "You'll be driving your babies around in this car", and she was right! However, I did not know how interesting a ride it would be...three car seats in the back seat of a little Nissan Sentra puts Mom's head about 2 inches from the windshield...it's a wild, wild ride! :)

Safety Warning: If you are clutzy, do not attempt to drain a large pot of boiling pasta. Instead, opt to "scoop" out some of the water first so that you do not burn your hand and wrist.

Yup, I'm a clutz. A Doctor's office co-pay, ibuprofen, and several yards of gauze later it's still covered in bandaids. I'm THANKFUL that the kids weren't nearby when it happened or they might have been burned too.